How we test

Overall score includes:

Performance (70%)Ease of use (30%)

We evenly spread 5kg of leaf litter (including bark and twigs) over a car park. We then timed how long it took each model to blow the material into a pile, be converted to a vacuum, and then vacuum up the pile.

We checked how easy it was to use the controls. As well as turning them on and off, we assessed how easy it was to do the blower-to-vac conversion and empty the collection bag.

We looked at how easy each model was to use for blowing plus vacuuming. We also scored them for vibration.

Key data

Model

Avg price

$279

Specifications

Power

Petrol

Blockage clearing

Hard

Run time/charge time (minutes)

n/a

Blow/vac conversion (seconds)

Switch

Noise blow/vac (dBA)

88/76

Weight (blower/vac) (kg)

7.0

Claimed bag capacity (L)

40

Features

Nozzle types

Fixed

Nozzle wheel

Yes

Metal/plastic impeller (fan)

Plastic (with mulching blades)

Engine/battery (V/Ah)

30

More Info

Notes

Blower vacuums in our database have been tested to a different method than leaf blowers.